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OAK@LAA: DeJesus blasts his second homer of the game

ANAHEIM -- Oakland's 6-1 victory over the Angels on Tuesday followed a bevy of on- and off-field issues that plagued the team for nearly a week during a stretch of six straight losses.

Ever since drowning the Angels in a 14-0 victory on May 17 for a share of first place in the American League West, the A's proceeded to watch their disabled list gain two starting pitchers and their closer spark a rift with manager Bob Geren stemming from displeasure over a lack of communication.

The latter, settled before Tuesday's game in a meeting, may or may not have brought some life to an A's team in need of just that. Either way, all of the above was pushed aside for the club's second meeting in Anaheim, where newly promoted hurler Guillermo Moscoso and a productive offensive showing led by David Dejesus combined to push the team out of the loss column.

The A's, who had tallied just two home runs over the last 11 games, matched that total on Tuesday courtesy of DeJesus' second multi-homer game of not only his career, but the month of May, as he accomplished the same feat just 19 days ago.

"Any time a guy can do that," manager Bob Geren said, "it's a huge boost for the offense."

All smiles, DeJesus relayed a freeing sense of optimism following Tuesday's series of events, which began with an apology from reliever Brian Fuentes to Geren for his critical words.

"It's one of those things, we stand behind both Bob and [Fuentes], but [Fuentes] because he's one of us, goes through the grind every day," DeJesus said. "We're backing him, and we felt like that gave us the motivation to go out there today and just play loose. And it showed up in the game today."

Fresh to the scene from Triple-A Sacramento, Moscoso wasn't pitching from that same place of revival, of wanting to brush aside the short-lived in-house issues. But he was pitching out of urgency to belong in a Major League rotation.

The Venezuelan right-hander, making his first big league start with just 11 relief appearances in the Majors under his belt, showed little sign of anxiousness aside from a trio of walks, surrendering just three hits over six shutout innings while impressively filling the rotation void left by the injured Tyson Ross.

"It feels pretty good," Moscoso said. "I was very happy to do that today. I came here to do my best, and you knew the team was coming from six losses. I got a big responsibility to get the win today, and I got pretty good results."

He can partially thank a rather simple game plan from catcher Kurt Suzuki, who wanted to see just one thing from the righty out of the gate.

"I like calling games with the fastball," Suzuki said. "I like establishing that early in the game, and he had a good one. As the game went on, it allowed him to throw the breaking ball and some changeups. But the key was the fastball, no doubt."

It marked the second time in as many days the club has called upon depth from the farm system, as lefty Josh Outman made his return to the big leagues in place of Brandon McCarthy on Monday and gave up just one run over seven solid innings in an eventual 4-1 loss.

"It seems any pitcher we bring up throws great," DeJesus said. "It's great to see that guys are coming up and filling spots this good."

DeJesus, meanwhile, entered the game hovering around the .230 mark, along with just a .111 lifetime average against Angels starter Dan Haren. But given fastballs, the A's outfielder brushed aside those numbers, launching home runs in the second and fourth off the former Oakland pitcher.

"I've had his number for a long time, but he got the best of me today," Haren said. "He hit two fastballs. On 3-2 [in the second inning] I challenged him, and on the next one he ambushed me on the first pitch. Obviously, DeJesus was seeing the ball pretty good."

DeJesus, himself, confirmed that notion when asked about his second multi-homer game in the month, which was followed up with a run-scoring double in the ninth.

"It's really weird right now," he said. "I don't understand how it happens, but I'll take it every day. I saw the ball well, got in counts where I forced him to throw a fastball.

"It's pretty cool. It's tough to do. It's tough to get one, let alone two in one game, and I'm blessed to have the opportunity to get to do that and help the team to a win. We needed this win to get going back in the right direction. Hopefully it's a good building block for tomorrow."

In between DeJesus' game-changing swings, Josh Willingham knocked a two-run double into left field in the third off Haren, who lasted seven innings, giving up five runs on seven hits with one walk and six strikeouts.

"Haren's one of the premier pitchers in the league, so to get that many runs off him, it's a good night, especially for us the way we've been swinging," Geren said. "It's something positive to build on."

Plenty of positives were found Tuesday, and the A's hoped the victory marked one of many complete team efforts to come.

"I think after six losses in a row, that any win would be a perfect game," Geren said. "That's the team that we can be if we can do that consistently. We've had stretches of that kind of pitching and games where the offense has busted out, but a solid offensive approach day in and day out would really turn everything around for us."

Jane Lee is a reporter for MLB.com. Read her blog, Major Lee-ague, and follow her on Twitter @JaneMLB. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

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